Category: Interviews

Jan
24

Sebastian Talks with BLACKBOOK MAGAZINE on Ripped Bods, Being an Only Child, and Acting with Ellen Burstyn

You can check out Sebastian’s full interview with Blackbook Magazine over at BLACKBOOKMAG.COM

On the subject of talented actors, in another interview you mentioned learning a lot from fellow cast member Ellen Burstyn. Can you tell me more?

As an actor, in terms of performing the same thing every night, the challenge is to rediscover that sense of truth and be as honest as possible, which is difficult. Being opposite her, there’s always the element of surprise. Working with her leads to new discoveries. She’s a generous actress. She is such a presence that it’s very easy to work off of. I’ve become familiar with her book, which I urge everyone to read. It’s tremendously inspiring what that woman has lived through. Her knowledge extends decades; about writers, actors, movies, books, and poems that have inspired her, so she shares some of that. It’s almost like going to school and learning about all of these wonderful things again. She’s lived an incredible life.

Do you consider yourself a fairly grounded person?

Well, I feel the ground beneath my feet. [Laughs] There were times I wish I could have had a more normal upbringing, in terms of being in one place and going to the same school the entire time. I’m very grateful for where I came from and the way things worked out. I already feel like I’ve come a long way. If this is what’s happened so far, if I keep on the line I’m going, then perhaps many other great things will happen. It’s just the beginning.

So, did you have to get in shape for the role, or is that just your natural physique?

[Laughs] No, that is not my natural physique. Boy, would I love it to be. I did have to get into shape. While I can, I gotta answer some of these funny questions. People weren’t in shape like that back then, no way. That’s so 21st Century. No one can be ripped like that in the 1950s. And for anyone that says that, I would say, go and look at Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke and The Long, Hot Summer. Just look at his physique in those films. That should answer the question. The play asks very specifically for—it’s gotta be physical. This is how I saw it and so did the director. At the same time, it became a great challenge to want to get into shape. But, it coincides with another little project where I have to be in shape, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

You’ve done TV, film, and stage acting. How do they compare, and do you have a favorite medium?

The biggest thing that sticks out for all three of them is the element of time. In TV, everything goes quick, quick, quick. You gotta shoot a lot in one day. In movies, you have the luxury of taking your time and shooting something over the span of a few months. And then, on stage, you get your rehearsal period, which you don’t often get for TV and movies, so that’s always a very amazing thing in itself, which I enjoy about stage. That being said, TV keeps you on your toes because you gotta go, go, go. You don’t have time to think and reevaluate. In movies, which is ultimately the director’s medium, there’s opportunity for being a part of a really great project because you have the time to shoot the way you want to shoot. If you’re working with a good group of people and you’re enjoying the material, it really doesn’t matter. The final thing I’ll say about stage is, everything you do is in the moment every night. What the audience sees is your creation. It’s not edited. It’s not chopped up. It’s not one version of somebody’s point of view. It’s you up there that the audience sees.

Jan
15

Sebastian & The Cast of ‘Picnic’ Share the Secret to a Perfect Picnic

Jan
14

Sebastian Stan on the Challenge of Going Shirtless in Picnic and Going Mad on Once Upon a Time

You definitely know Sebastian Stan. The 29-year-old rising star turned in memorable TV performances on Once Upon a Time, Gossip Girl and Political Animals, and he’s graced the movie screen in hits like Black Swan and Captain America. On top of that, Stan is an accomplished theater actor, having appeared on Broadway in 2007 in the Tony-nominated revival of Talk Radio. Nowadays he’s heating up the stage as a handsome, troubled drifter in Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of Picnic. Broadway.com chatted with Stan about learning lessons from Ellen Burstyn, growing up in theater and finding what it takes to make it on Broadway.

You play a classic “bad boy” in Picnic. What drew you to the role of Hal?
When I was studying acting at Rutgers, I was obsessed with actors from the ‘50s. I wanted to emulate them, the Montgomery Clifts and James Deans of the world. Everything they did seemed so iconic and so romantic in some broken, terrible way. And this play is, at first glance, an opportunity to explore that world. The challenge was to make that real.

You and Maggie Grace just ooze chemistry. Did that come naturally?
I would say so. Maggie’s incredibly sweet, very generous and there’s a very open communicative relationship between the two of us about what it is that we need to do every night. I can say the same about the rest of the group. I feel very lucky that it’s a welcoming, warm, friendly group. You don’t always get that.

Do you see yourself as the sexy, shirtless type?
[Laughs.] Don’t we all try and think of ourselves like that at some point in time?

You grew up doing theater, and you went to [the famous summer camp] Stagedoor Manor. Would you describe yourself as a “theater kid”?
Oh, for sure! I went to a tiny, tiny high school where kids weren’t competing with each other for a part in the musical because there weren’t enough people. It was Stagedoor Manor that advanced what I thought doing theater was—the process, the rehearsal, the costumes and what goes on backstage and everybody’s part in it.

What is it about theater that you fell in love with?
There’s something very arousing about having an immediate response from people, right then and there. Theater really is much more of an actor’s medium because you’re in control of the editing of what the audience is going to see. You’re the one making those choices. There isn’t somebody else up there cutting the moment together for you.

You’re also gearing up to play the amped-up role of Bucky Barnes in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Excited?
I’m completely excited to venture down that path. This is why January 1, 2013, was a glorious day to wake up to [laughs]. I’m very grateful and very lucky for what’s going on right now. I think you have to allow yourself to be excited about the magnitude of something like [Captain America].

Check out Sebastian’s entire interview over at BROADWAY.COM

Jan
14

Abs-olutely Fabulous: Sebastian Stan struts his stuff as sexy drifter in ‘Picnic’

Entering stage left: The best abs on Broadway.

The well-tended washboard belongs to Sebastian Stan, who plays Hal Carter in William Inge’s 1953 drama, “Picnic.”

Hal is the horndog drifter who wears his ripe, ever-ready sexuality on his sleeve.

When he’s got sleeves, that is.

Hal spends much of the first act without a shirt.

“It’s so important to the story,” says Stan, when asked about all the beefcake. “It’s about a small town in the ’50s and the repression.”

The role of Hal required the 29-year-old actor, who got hooked on theater growing up in Rockland County, to get in the shape of his life.

“The job presented a nice opportunity to push myself in a big way,” says Stan. “I’ve always been fit, but have never been to this point.”

He credits help from trainers Don Saladino and Ryan Johnson at Drive495 in SoHo for whipping him into shape.

The workout regimen included a mix of high-intensity cardio, weight training, plenty of shuteye and an eating plan that centers mostly on lean protein. Picnic fare, like potato salad swimming in mayo, wasn’t on the menu.

“I eat eight times a day,” says Stan. “Between the time the play ends and I take a bow, I down a protein drink.”

Saladino, who specializes in getting actors ready for a role, applauds Stan’s “unbelievable” dedication.“When Sebastian took his shirt off,” he says, “he wanted people’s mouths to drop open.”
Or their eyes to pop out. And that includes the elderly woman played by Ellen Burstyn. She and other characters stare at the half-naked Hal like a starving lioness eyeing a hobbled antelope.
Whispers of approval have been heard in the audience too.

The actor takes it in stride. “It’s fun,” he says. “I’m lucky that this is part of my work.”

Stan’s role as Hal wraps on Feb. 24, when the show ends its run at the American Airlines Theatre. He starts filming the sequel to “Captain America” in April. And he says his workouts will go on. “I told my trainers that they’re stuck with me for life.”

source

Dec
11

The Cast of ‘Picnic’ Talk About The Show

Dec
04

The Stars of ‘Picnic’ Deliver the Delicious Dish on the ‘Sexy’ New Broadway Revival